San Bernardino, CA– Artists are integral to healthy communities, bringing people together, building community, and working toward social change. Arts Connection's Annual Conference creates opportunities for this to happen, and in 2016 Fallen Fruit presented the keynote at the University of Redlands and planted the seed for this project. There was an incredible response to their talk, and many who heard it expressed their desire to see Fallen Fruit do a project in San Bernardino County. Together, Arts Connection and Fallen Fruit submitted grant applications to the California Arts Council, the San Bernardino Fine Arts Commission, and SoCalGas. We were successful in our applications, and are excited to share the programs that we have planned.

The Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce, Inland Cities has teamed up with the San Bernardino County Museum to host a Black Art Exhibit in honor of Black History Month.

World renowned artists Charles Bibbs of the Inland Empire will be the featured artists during the Exhibit, which will be on display through the entire of February at the San Bernardino County Museum in the Schuiling Gallery. The Museum is located at 2024 Orange Tree Lane in Redlands, CA. The Black Art Exhibit will kick off with a reception on Tuesday, February 13 from 6:00pm-8:00pm.

In addition to featuring the great works of Charles Bibbs the Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce would to highlight up and coming artists as well. The Chamber will be accepting art work from aspiring local artists, high school artists and student artists from local colleges including California State University, San Bernardino and San Bernardino Valley College to give them an opportunity to show case their works to the Inland Empire residents, and give them a chance to mix and mingle with other artists that have achieved a level success.